little chef cupcakes

This month I asked the lovely Sam from Wholesome Productions if she would do a recipe for the Little Pinwheel newsletter for all our budding chefs out there. I asked Sam in particular as her company prides itself on promoting cooking skills, healthy eating and nutritional learning through hands on participation. I know having a 3 year old, she is always amongst it in the kitchen and loves to get her hands into the cooking, especially when we are cooking the treats! They stock a great range of products that they have designed which teaches children by giving them a real experience in the kitchen with mum and dad. They have a great selection of kids cooking kits available on their website. I am going to have to grab a Pizza Cooking Set as Keely loves our homemade pizzas and it would be a perfect gift for Christmas!

Keely and I put on our chef's hats over the weekend and tried out Sam's recipe for the classic cupcake! It was a lot of fun and as you can see from the photos, the recipe works and yes they did taste as good as they look! This is a great activity to do with your children and to get them into the kitchen is a fantastic way of teaching them healthy eating. I know this from having the typical fussy eater!

Classic Cupcake Recipe

These are one of the easiest things you can bake with your kids. If you have younger little chefs that are more interested in decorating, simply put all the cupcake ingredients into a food processor and whiz.

Makes:12

Ingredients:

120g softened unsalted butter

120g caster sugar

2 eggs at room temperature, beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

120g self-raising flour

Icing:

50g icing sugar

50g unsalted butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Hundreds and thousands

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180°C and line a baking tray with 12 cupcake cases.

Whisk together the butter, sugar and vanilla extract until light and fluffy.

Add the beaten egg, a little at a time and once combined fold in the sifted flour.

Pour the mixture into the cases.

Bake for 12 minutes, or until they have risen and a skewer inserted into a cupcake comes out clean.

To make the icing, beat together the sugar, butter and vanilla extract.

Let the cupcakes cool. Ice the cakes and sprinkle with hundreds and thousands.

Cupcake tips:

If you want to bake the cakes ahead of time they will stay fresh for a few days, if stored in an airtight container in the fridge.

My personal tip: if you are an icing lover, like we are, double the quantity of icing sugar and butter!